Iskratel’s SI3000 Lumia Receives MEF Certification

The High-Performance Broadband Access and Aggregation Node has been Certified to Transport Carrier-Grade Ethernet services

Kranj, Slovenia, September 9, 2011 – Iskratel today announced that its SI3000 Lumia high-performance broadband-access node has received Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) 9 and 14 certification. The certification establishes that Iskratel's SI3000 Lumia is capable of delivering MEF-compliant E-Line and E-LAN services. The MEF-9 and MEF-14 certifications assure carriers that with the SI3000 Lumia they can deliver standardized Carrier Ethernet services across their networks and provide their business customers with carrier-class EVCs (Ethernet virtual connections).

Iskratel received the certification after passing over 600 compliance tests at a U.S. MEF-sanctioned lab testing facility. The use of these globally recognized standards improves the SI3000 Lumia’s carrier approval process, increases tender opportunities, and dramatically reduces testing costs, time-to-market, and installation time.

The MEF-9 and MEF-14 certifications confirm the reliability and quality of the point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and multipoint-to-multipoint Ethernet services at the user-network interface (UNI). MEF-9 defines the conformance test suite of the Ethernet equipment for setting up Ethernet virtual circuits (EVCs) for Ethernet LAN (ELAN), Ethernet Private Line (EPL), and Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) services. MEF-14 verifies the quality of these standard Carrier Ethernet services.

“We are happy to see the list of MEF-certified equipment vendors growing, and welcome Iskratel to the family. We believe that Iskratel's adoption of MEF certifications improves the recognition of Carrier Ethernet services in emerging markets, especially in the CEE. Iskratel closes the gap between residential and business-connectivity access platforms, which reduces the costs of deploying L2 VPN managed services and makes them more accessible to both carriers and business customers,” commented Nan Chen, President of MEF.

Global service providers are increasingly demanding simplified Layer-2 Ethernet WANs to speed the provisioning of high-bandwidth applications and enable business customer’s L2 VPN services portfolio and Data Center interconnections. With the Iskratel SI3000 Lumia as a Metro Ethernet solution, the operators and service providers can offer Ethernet services to business customers that are tailored to their needs. Additionally, the SI3000 Lumia provides residential triple-play services as well as L2 VPNs for business customers simultaneously. High availability, fast service provisioning and multipoint-to-multipoint services make the SI3000 Lumia a future-proof investment for new packet-oriented applications.

“The certifications provide an independent validation of our feature-rich, broadband-access solution. They are an acknowledgement of our commitment to providing our customers with standards-compliant and interoperable Carrier Ethernet access solutions with the SI3000 Lumia. Furthermore, the fast certification process proves that the SI3000 Lumia is a flexible platform that satisfies the needs of even the most demanding customers”, said Željko Puljić, Chief Technology Officer at Iskratel.

The Iskratel SI3000 Lumia represents a very flexible and cost-efficient solution. Multilayer optimization provides integrated Carrier Ethernet functionality, enabling the pay-as-you-grow concept for operators. The SI3000 Lumia is easy to operate and integrate into an existing infrastructure to provide new services. Iskratel enables operators and service providers to invest according to their size and needs and the gradual deployment and growth of Carrier Ethernet access and aggregation networks.